142 



' British Entomology,' has figured the perfect insect, he has neither 

 figured nor described the larva, and few of the old collectors are ac- 

 quainted with it. Such of them as know the larva by sight consider 

 it a cannibal [or a caterpillar that feeds on other caterpillars.] It is 

 difficult to secure in a chip box, and will make its vt^ay through every 

 thing but very hard wood or iron : even when safely retained it is very 

 rarely bred owing to the general ignorance that prevails respecting its 

 economy. When fiill fed this larva is two-thirds of an inch in length, 

 rather flat, and of a dark green colour, having a faint yellow line on 

 each side : it is very rough and warty. When about entering the pupa 

 state it gnaws a hole in decaying wood, and having buried itself, stops 

 the aperture either at the surface or a quarter of an inch below, with 

 a kind of door or covering [composed of a cement, manufactured by 

 mixing a glutinous matter ejected by the larva with the particles of 

 wood which it has detached by gnawing.] On attaining its perfect 

 state it forces its way through this covering and emerges. I have 

 found this caterpillar feeding on hazel and sallow from the 15th of 

 June to the end of the month. — Alfred Lambert ; 6, Trinity Street, 

 Borough, Maij 12, 1841. 



28. Brepha Notha. The larva of this moth is perfectly similar in 

 its economy to that of B. Partlienias, but differs in being of a light 

 green colour, and nearly free from the wart-like protuberances which 

 distinguish that species. — Id. 



29. Ceropaclia Jlavicornis and C. ridens, Clostera reclusa and cur- 

 tula. I have both taken and bred these four species in April ; the 

 larvae of all of them are very similar in their habits. I believe them 

 to be night-feeders, at least they never issue from their homes until 

 sunset : in these homes, which are formed by drawing two or three 

 leaves together and fastening them by a web, the larvae remain con- 

 cealed throughout the day. In a breeding cage I have noticed that 

 they feed in the evening at very opposite sides, and during the day I 

 have frequently removed them from their dwellings, but the following 

 morning have invariably found them at home. Cer. flavicornis and 

 ridens, when about changing, bury themselves in the earth just below 

 the surface, but C. reclusa and curtula spin up between the leaves. 

 The larva of Cer. flavicornis feeds on the birch, that of Cer. ridens on 

 the oak, both of them in July ; those of Clos. reclusa and curtula are 

 found in June and October feeding on the sallow and aspen. — Id. 



30. Lampronia Capitella. The cun-ant-trees in this neighbourhood 

 are greatly injured, and in some places totally destroyed by the larva 

 of a minute moth, the Lampronia capitella of Stephens, which feeds 



